


Maybe

by dovetail_17



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-06
Updated: 2016-05-06
Packaged: 2018-09-06 16:39:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8760844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dovetail_17/pseuds/dovetail_17
Summary: Kuroo, a professor meets Daichi, a personal trainer.





	

**Author's Note:**

> My first time writing a fanfic. It is based on a prompt on tumblr.

It was a university city which was straggling with its inhabitants, some going to sleep, some sleeping and an occasional few waking up on a sunny morning, which promised to be sweltering a few hours into the day. The roads and walkways were mostly empty, except for a few drunks, and many more birds, who were cheerier. The regular slap on the pavement of a person jogging could also be heard. The sound was regularly interspersed with a quiet breath, and was soothing to hear. But it was only a few minutes after that the silence was broken by a swallowed pain of cry and deep gulps of breath.

It was one of the better days for Tetsuro Kuroo. His left leg had pained much less than the last few months and he was able to jog near about a kilometer without faltering. There was no one to see this humiliation, he thought, looking around the park. It was deserted, if you discounted plant and animal life. Well, it was not going to get better than that, if what the doctor told him was true. He had been a volleyball player at a reputed school – a captain no less- and it was almost settled that he would be on the national team in the future, when an altercation on the court had left him with a broken leg and broken dreams. Shutting down the gloomy thoughts, he rose from the grassy patch he was sitting on, dusted his trainers and began thinking of which topics of calculus were to be covered in the class today. At least he had fulfilled his backup dream of becoming a mathematics professor, he thought glumly.

He got a call from Kenma Kozume, his former teammate, inviting him to a mixer in the evening. It felt as a cry for help, but he did wonder if Kenma was shy in front of girls or if he was simply not interested. He had half a mind to accept his invitation, his parents were forever saying that as he should find a nice girl and settle, seeing that he was already over thirty years of age. He was in no mood to entertain false expectations in a girl, so he’d been vaguely putting off the topic from his parents. He declined Kenma and wondered if it would be sunny the next morning.

It was not sunny, but raining a drizzle, which despite Kuroo’s expectations when starting out, did not stop or even slow down. His leg was hurting more today, he would have to take painkillers after he reached home, he thought. The tree under which he was resting was barely enough to cover him from the rain but it sheltered him mostly. He was massaging his leg, waiting for the rain to thin out and looking around aimlessly, when he saw a person, jogging steadily without faltering and came into his view. It was a man, around his age. A nice form, he thought, looking at the well-developed thigh and leg muscles obvious through the trainers due to the rain. The person had quite a plain face with short black hair, but somehow Kuroo found it interesting. Someday maybe I’ll talk to him, he thought.

It was a Sunday afternoon, there were no classes and he’d been somehow dragged by Morisuke Yaku, a former teammate, into going to drinking sake at a new bar that had just opened. Kuroo thought that it would be just him and Yaku, with Yaku muttering about Lev, who still liked to ‘bother’ him or gossiping about the newest members in the local volleyball team where he played. Kuroo was wrong, he’d been dragged to a volleyball court, where his former teammates from Nekoma High were all present, given a uniform and asked to change under the threat that his juniors from high school would be very happy to help their senior change if he was unable to. He changed and came to find that he’d been dragged into an impromptu volleyball match. He was about to complain, but Kenma looked unexpectedly excited and happy and he agreed.

It had been a long time since he had played volleyball with his teammates from high school and it was different. For one thing, Kenma had grown taller and his sets even higher, and for another thing, he was not agile as he used to be. But he still managed to score a few spikes against their opponent and that was exhilarating. Lev was still as excitable as ever and Kuroo wondered how he even got a job. Yaku had a hand in that, no doubt. He was grateful to Yaku and asked him to invite him again for volleyball matches.

Yaku was pissed, “I will drag you to the matches, as if I don’t know that you could reject to come depending on your mood.”

Kenma, taking Yaku’s side said, “Kuroo, you’ve got to do more practice. You’re not good as before, you could not spike many of my sets.”

“Kuroo-san, look what Kenma says nowadays, he just is becoming too demanding-” Lev was interrupted.

“Shut up Lev before you’ve I get you to do a hundred spikes!” shouted Yaku.

“Yaku-san!”

“You should listen to what your senpai says, kouhai-chan,” piped Kuroo, in a big voice.

It had been two months after the match. Kuroo was jogging as usual at the park, when he saw the man. Kuroo had seen him many times after that time and this time he thought he’d call out to him.

“Excuse me, I am Tetsuro Kuroo, nice to meet you,” Kuroo stopped in front of the man, who was resting at the moment under a tree and held out his hand.

He expected a handshake and was surprised when the guy took his hand and stood up and said, “Nice to meet you, I am Daichi Sawamura,” and released his hand.

“I have seen you jogging here many times and you maintain such a good form.”

“I am a personal trainer, so it comes with the job.”

“So why don’t we jog together, seeing that we both come here at around the same time?”

“Sure, okay.”

It had been four months that Kuroo and Daichi had known each other. They often went jogging together and Kuroo looked forward to that. Kuroo felt that he was feeling a lot better than before and was removing his shoes when he noticed that the sole was getting frayed and figured it was time to buy a new pair of shoes.

He was going to the mall in the evening when he met a neighbor of his. She was an old lady and would sometimes invite him to dinner, seeing that he lived alone.

“Oh, Kuroo-kun, are you going to the convenience store? If you are, can you get me some vegetables for curry? I want to eat curry today, and I’ve to get my grandson from his school, so I might not be able to…”

“Sure, sure.”

“And dinner at my house, okay?”

Kuroo bought a pair of black sports shoes which he found very comfortable and expensive and then went to the convenience store, where as he was buying carrots, met Sawamura, who also was shopping.

“Sawamura-san, are you having curry for dinner too?” he asked without any preamble whatsoever.

Sawamura, for once was dressed casually in t-shirt and jeans, and looked different from his trainer persona.

“Oh, its’ you, Kuroo-san. Yes I am. Would you stop looming over me? It is getting dark and the shop is yet to turn on the lights.”

A tube light flashed and lit after Sawamura said that.

“The lights are on, Sawamura-san. Hey can I call you, Dai-san? Sawamura-san is such a mouthful!”

Sawamura hesitated for a moment and the said, “Sure, if you let me call you Tet-san.”

“No-no-no…that doesn’t seem nice at all, call me Kuroo!” he said raising his voice.

The shop clerk gave him an admonishing glance. They both made their purchases quickly and exited the shop.

“So which way are you going, Dai-san?”

“This way,” said Sawamura, pointing to the suburbs on the east.

“Really? I’m going that way too. Lucky!”

They were almost halfway up to Kuroo’s place when Sawamura said, “This is where I live,” pointing to an old two-story apartment behind an old rusted door.

“My place is just a few minutes from here. You live alone, don’t you, Dai-san. Lets’ have dinner together sometime, shall we?”

“Of course Tet-san.”

It was a Friday afternoon. Kuroo had just finished his lectures and was worrying about the finals which were to happen in two months’ time. He supposed most of the students he’d taught would pass easily, but then, there was always someone who failed. And that got him worried, despite reassurances from his colleagues.

He switched on his cellphone to check for mails. There were two from Sawamura, inviting him to dinner and asking him to buy some beer. There was another from Kenma, who was dating, it seemed and asked him for gift choices. And there was one from Lev, who was complaining that Yaku-san was going to break him. He chuckled over that one. There was one from his mother, informing that Kenma was, indeed dating, and he ought to follow Kenma’s example. He sighed over that one.

He swung by the convenience store to buy some beer. Seeing potatoes and peas on sale, he bought that too, thinking that Sawamura’s fridge was emptying way too fast and he was half responsible for it. There was a new variety of tea on sale too, and bought that, making plans for watching a movie and crashing at Sawamura’s place in his mind. He wondered if Sawamura minded that he came so often at his place and whether he was hampering with Sawamura’s love life. But then again, for a nice guy, Sawamura was pretty blunt. And he’d told if Kuroo was a bother.

Kuroo had just finished lugging in the parcels his parents had sent that he met the old lady and she invited him for dinner. Being pretty tired out, he agreed.

The dinner party consisted of him, the old lady and her five-year old grandson. There was plenty of curry to go around, and Kuroo was enjoying it. The old lady was feeding the boy, who was reluctant to leave the newest television show. They talked of the weather, economy, her irresponsible son and all those sundries. After dinner, Kuroo was helping her wash the dishes when she asked, “So why are you still living alone? You’ve got a boyfriend and you rarely come here alone or even come at all!”

Holding the plate which almost slipped his grasp, Kuroo became flustered, and asked, “My boyfriend?”

“Yes that young man that you’re always with. I’ve seen you buying grocery together so many times and you never even noticed me!”

Kuroo talked the lady out of that topic somehow and returned to his room sometime afterward.

Preparing his futon, he wondered why his neighbor thought that Sawamura was his boyfriend. First of all, they were both men, and secondly, he was not attracted to Sawamura. Not at all.

“You would not believe what a neighbor of mine told me. She asked me that why I was not living with my boyfriend. She thinks we are dating. I mean, we are both guys, obviously.”

Kuroo related the incident to Sawamura as a joke, when they were hanging out at Kuroo’s place a few days after. Kuroo laughed and Sawamura joined him.

After that, they watched a movie that Kuroo had wanted to watch for such a long time and later talked about how great it was. Sawamura was not so much impressed and went about making dinner without listening much to him. As they were both sleeping, Kuroo wondered if he’d said or done something wrong. Sawamura had been quiet that evening and he was usually so cheery and would talk with Kuroo about each and everything till late in the night. Kuroo missed that.

This time Yaku had really dragged him to a bar, this time to complain about how Lev had not bothered him for the last couple of weeks. Kuroo talked to him about Sawamura, as he always did.

“Kuroo-san, are you sure that you don’t like this Dai-san? ‘Cause it seems you like him a lot. You’re always spending your free time with him. Haven’t you known him for around half a year already? You say he is a personal trainer, but you’ve never brought him to our matches. And you forgot to take Kenma to buy the new game. Do you know how hard it is to handle both Kenma and Lev at the same time?”

Yaku said this all at once, without allowing Kuroo to get a word in.

“Doesn’t Kenma have a girlfriend? Can’t she take him shopping?” said Kuroo trying to change the topic.

“I don’t know about that. But Kuroo-san, I cannot take care of two needy people, let alone three, and I’ll be very pissed off if you try to increase the number.”

“But Yaku-san…”

“No, get your feelings sorted out. I’m going to find where Lev has run off to. And you better not go around making this Dai-san troubled.”

Saying that, Yaku left the bar, leaving Kuroo nursing a beer. He tried to imagine Sawamura with a girl, but that just made him angry.

“Maybe Yaku was right.”

There was one month left for the exams and Kuroo was getting stressed out. Normally he’d feel better after jogging or playing volleyball or after talking to Sawamura. His schedule was quite unforgiving these days and did not permit for anything else than his morning routine. And he did not get to meet Sawamura as much they used to, Sawamura was apparently busy training his student, whose matches were going on these days, and thus was often not present for their morning jogs.

That evening, he was preparing questions for the exams at his room when he was interrupted by the doorbell. It was already late in the evening and seeing that he’d not invited anyone, he wondered who it was opening the door. Sawamura was standing on his doorstep, carrying a heavy bag and looking quite tired.

“Come on in. What happened?” asked Kuroo worriedly.

“Excuse me, can I stay here for a few days? My room got flooded due to leaks from the defective plumbing in the upstairs neighbors and it would take around two weeks to repair. And they are cutting off water supply for the repairs. Please, can I?”

“Of course, you can. We are friends, aren’t we?” replied Kuroo with a large smile, taking the bag from Sawamura and then pulling him to the bath, “Get a bath, I will prepare dinner.”

Sawamura looked around and saw the stacks of papers piled on the table and asked, “Am I disturbing you?”

“Don’t worry about that. Get on with the bath.”

Kuroo had forgotten some papers at home which he needed at the university and he dropped at his apartment. He took the papers and noticed Sawamura’s clothes were hanging next to his on a wire for drying. He wondered if this was the kind of comfort he had been seeking. He liked Sawamura a lot, not in that way – he tried to convince himself. But it was pretty nice waking up to the sound of another human, whether sleeping, or showering, or fiddling around the kitchen. And he liked making dinner not just for himself, but for another person. And he was glad that there was another person he could always talk to whenever he was home on just about anything. But then again, Sawamura had said he’d only live for two weeks, right, and the day was coming close. He’d convince him somehow. No way was he letting Sawamura go.

So in the evening, after dinner, Kuroo presented a proposal.

“Hey, why don’t we live together? We get on pretty well and we don’t fight, and we are good friends right? And we are not in any relationship, or any such thing? So why don’t we? And the rent would be pretty cheap, seeing that this much space is enough for us.”

He expected Sawamura to accept, but was shocked to hear his answer.

“No, Kuroo, I don’t want to live with you,” he said, his face pale and if Kuroo had noticed his hands, tightening and loosening; and trembling.

He then took the bag, which was almost packed, zipped it up, opened the apartment door and left, slamming the door.

Kuroo fisted his hand and punched at the table in front of him, wondering what he’d done wrong. He had asked him nicely, and he was pretty sure Sawamura was not in a relationship. Maybe his charm was fading off. He’d have to ask Yaku what he’d done wrong. But then he had a lingering intuition that Yaku would hit him where it would hurt the most.

Kuroo was trying to get away from the students who thought it was alright to keep him busy answering all the questions they could not late into the night as the exams were just one week later. His phone rang, indicating a mail. He took his coat which was hanging on the chair, and walked away from the staff room ignoring the students. Hell, he was in a bad mood since the last week since Sawamura had walked out on him. Opening his phone, he wondered what his mother was trying to nag him about. It was a mail from Sawamura. That stopped him short. He tried to open the mail, but could not. He sat on a bench he saw in front of a shop, calmed himself, and then opened the mail.

It said, “I like you a lot, not like that of friends, and even if I did not act upon it, both of us would feel uncomfortable living with each other. Sorry.”

It was a short mail, but Kuroo went through it many times, and then tried to make sense of it all. He felt his eyes watering. Perhaps it was getting colder, he thought wiping his eyes, which would fill up with tears immediately.

Kuroo woke up earlier than the other days and freshened himself up. He tried to tame the hair which his teammates, students and even Sawamura had called rooster-like. Wondering what he’d say to Sawamura, wondering if he’d meet Sawamura, he went to the park, jogging. Sawamura was there, a few meters away from him, stretching and did not notice Kuroo coming. But something must’ve alerted him, because he turned around and saw Kuroo. He abandoned stretching and started running- not jogging- as fast as he could. Kuroo, not knowing what to do, started running after him. He was not able to catch up with Sawamura at first, then he pushed himself even further until he felt he was in Sawamura’s hearing range.

His leg hurting, his breath ragged, he shouted, “Please go out with me, Dai-san! I like you a lot too!”

And then he felt himself flushing, his ears going red. He looked down, his legs half-bent, breathing deeply and not daring to look forward. Then he felt a shadow looming over him, and saw Sawamura, standing in front of him. His face was also flushed, maybe from exertion or not, and he was also taking deep breaths. Kuroo felt Sawamura’s hand on his cheek and then suddenly his mouth was covered by Sawamura’s. It tasted of coffee and sweets. Kuroo put his arms around Sawamura, his hands going towards his hair. They separated for a moment when Sawamura whispered in his ear, “Okay,” before kissing his ear.

Kuroo had finally sorted out which part of the closet he’d give to Sawamura when the doorbell rang. He opened his door to find Yaku and Kenma. Yaku pushed Kenma inside and said, “Go with him, he wants to buy a game.”

“What about his girlfriend?”

“We broke up.”

“I’ll take him,” said Sawamura, coming out of the bedroom.

“Thanks Daichi-san.”

“Yaku-san, why are you always trying to ruin my dates?”

“At least you’ve a date. I haven’t even got time to take a girl out due to Lev and Kenma!”


End file.
